Concerned about the state of the MK community...

[K7L33THA]

I just think the offline scene should realize that there is a number of good online players and they are an important part of the MK community. Case in point look at Mortal Monday. The first show was completely online, coordinated by individuals spread out all across the country. I can understand rolling your eyes at the guy who brags about his online record, but seriously there are a lot of good players who play online (lag or not) and IMO they deserve to be just as big a part of the scene as anyone.

Edit: Holy shit I think I just said the same thing like 4 times in one little paragraph. lolz I'm tired.

 

[catch22]

I just think the offline scene should realize that there is a number of good online players and they are an important part of the MK community. Case in point look at Mortal Monday. The first show was completely online, coordinated by individuals spread out all across the country. I can understand rolling your eyes at the guy who brags about his online record, but seriously there are a lot of good players who play online (lag or not) and IMO they deserve to be just as big a part of the scene as anyone.

Edit: Holy shit I think I just said the same thing like 4 times in one little paragraph. lolz I'm tired.

But thats just it dude, how can you consider yourself good when your opponent may not be able to deal with lag the way you may be able to,he may be a scrub, he may be good....really good offline, but sucks online, so in all honesty, theres no way you me and or any one else, can honestly think they are good by what they do online.
shit, i used to think i was good, very good online...then i found out the hard way lol
sorry bro, just makes no sense at all.

 

[Vulcan Hades]

But you dont get considered to be a top player from playing online. Only tournaments decide those things.

That's true.

Look at Pongkoo, everyone thought he was just an online warrior and training mode expert but he went to EVO and raped the number 1 player in the world. So that proves that you are both right: Online players can be just as good if not better than the very best offline players, BUT... you must go to offline tournaments to prove it or else people won't take you seriously. That's just the reality of all fighting games.


I just hope MK10 or UMK9 has a better netcode. I don't care what people think, online is extremely important and the offline MK community will never grow and expand as long as MK has bad netcode.

In SSF4 the experience gap between online and offline is very thin because that game has a virtually lagless netcode. So it's actually easier to jump from online to offline. But in MK9, online is too different from offline and that's very unfortunate.

 

[K7L33THA]

But thats just it dude, how can you consider yourself good when your opponent may not be able to deal with lag the way you may be able to,he may be a scrub, he may be good....really good offline, but sucks online, so in all honesty, theres no way you me and or any one else, can honestly think they are good by what they do online.
shit, i used to think i was good, very good online...then i found out the hard way lol
sorry bro, just makes no sense at all.

So are you saying that the complete online scene for MK9 is worthless and does nothing for the community? Seems a little narrow minded bro. Just cuz some of us don't have the means to get to tourneys doesn't mean they aren't a value to the community. My whole point for making this thread was that I was disappointed to see ANY aspect of MK9 fluttering out so soon. Apologies if this comes accross as harsh, not being personal just debating here.

 

[rev0lver]

The online scene DOES matter, no one was saying it doesn't. Online is the breeding ground for tournament players. What is being said is that online competition should not be considered on equal ground as offline competition.

 

[catch22]

So are you saying that the complete online scene for MK9 is worthless and does nothing for the community? Seems a little narrow minded bro. Just cuz some of us don't have the means to get to tourneys doesn't mean they aren't a value to the community. My whole point for making this thread was that I was disappointed to see ANY aspect of MK9 fluttering out so soon. Apologies if this comes accross as harsh, not being personal just debating here.

thats not what i meant, what i meant was. That how can some one consider them selves good, when the netcode is so bad.
to many things wrong with mk9 online to honestly consider yourself a good and or great player. all i said and r meant

 

[THTB]

Just saying, Poongko is a baaaad example because he was a KOF player prior to SFIV dropping in the arcades, where he started anyway. XD

 

[BenGmanUk]

There does seem to be a certain amount of elitism from offline players which I can understand to an certain extent. Its a bit harsh to say your online wins mean nothing when its all most people have. There are many good players online who may not have the means to travel, the funds or even the players around them. I live less than 30 mins from London and to my knowledge there have only been a handful of tournaments. The numbers on MK are tiny compared to SSF4.

I'd like nothing more than to get regular games going but with the current numbers and peoples unwillingness to travel it seems unlikely. I've practically begged friends of mine to get involved in local tournaments but with no luck, so have had to go on my own. The guys I've met have all been great though and wouldn't hesitate to go to more given the chance.

Anyway back on topic. The problem MK has as I see it is that it kind of sits in no mans land. Its not deep enough to pull anyone away from already established fighting games and requires too much learning for someone completely new to the genre. As poor as the netcode is I don't think it would have that much of an impact on the number of people playing.

I suppose its a good thing in some respects that the casuals are leaving as it improves your chances of being matched with a half decent player. Oh and yeah Rage, Dark Souls, BF3 beta probably isn't helping.

 

[A F0xy Grampa]

About the online vs offline arguement. Online doesnt mean much, sure you can learn bits and pieces but it really doesnt prove just how good a player is. An good example of it would be peoples AA game, I rarely miss an AA jab offline on reaction, but online its a whole other story. This is coming from somebody who has competed in every offline tourny in the UK and play shit loads online.

 

[BEENEEWEENEES]

An good example of it would be peoples AA game.

this is the biggest problem with trying to play this game online. naked jump-ins are absolutely FREE, even on characters like kano or kung lao. people get way too comfortable with trying to constantly jump in on their opponent after solely playing online.

 

[GamerBlake90]

It is no surprise to me if the numbers of the online Mortal Kombat community are indeed plummeting. What I don't get is that how could NRS do so damn well in producing what has to be the best Mortal Kombat game by far - in my opinion, of course - and yet a bad netcode is involved amongst the package, eclipsing the ability for all online players to see the game for what it truly is.

To this day, I'm still struggling to get used to the online timing for some tactics, especially the Wake-Up attacks. So's like 99% of the community, and we all shouldn't have to deal with two different atmospheres for timing our tactics all for the same game. Naturally the focus should be on extensive tournament play for the offline scene, but the fact that online casual players are moving on does hurt NRS's fanbase. This is not a casualty they can afford if they want their product to be successful.

It's still too soon to say the community is getting smaller, though. The game's almost six months old and is still being remade by the patches (that is, if the most recent one isn't the last one, but it's rumored to be) as well as the fact that the pros are discovering expert-level tech through countless hours of experience and Training Mode. MK9's still gonna need time to mature. No amount of progress can be rushed for us to expect good results.

Let the guys at the tournies do their thing and I'm sure the level of hype will take a turn for the better.

*wishes he could be there in person so that his EVO hype could keep breathing life into the game*

 

[EndofGameBoss]

I believe I understand what some people were trying to make a point with about onlinevsoffline. This game is dying, it's no secret. I think 1 person was trying to say if online and offline players weren't divided the community would be larger/stronger maybe? Players actually make a name for themselves in the online community similar to those in the offline community. Contrary to popular belief more people play this game online that people who attend tournaments, so a tournament players opinion about me would be meh. If the netkode wasn't so bad I think everyone would participate in online play. I don't have a scene were I live. I have to drive 2 1/2 hours to play competitively and that's fine, but I can't make the trip every week which makes me play online a hell of a lot more.

 

[Vulcan Hades]

This game is dying, it's no secret.

Strange, I remember everyone saying this 2 months before EVO 2011 where MK9 pulled nearly 55k hyped as hell viewers.

 

[CY MasterHavik]

That's true.

Look at Pongkoo, everyone thought he was just an online warrior and training mode expert but he went to EVO and raped the number 1 player in the world. So that proves that you are both right: Online players can be just as good if not better than the very best offline players, BUT... you must go to offline tournaments to prove it or else people won't take you seriously. That's just the reality of all fighting games.


I just hope MK10 or UMK9 has a better netcode. I don't care what people think, online is extremely important and the offline MK community will never grow and expand as long as MK has bad netcode.

In SSF4 the experience gap between online and offline is very thin because that game has a virtually lagless netcode. So it's actually easier to jump from online to offline. But in MK9, online is too different from offline and that's very unfortunate.

LOl. Dude you're forgetting about our online warriors that shock the world. You know Josh99 and ArchMagus.

 

[Goldi]

It's easy to get scared away from online. I'm probably what people would call a casual gamer. I dont get to play nearly as much as I would like, but when I do I make an effort to be polite. I can take a loss with grace. Give all 10s in koth, and send lots of ggs and compliments to other players.

But if it takes more than a few moments to find a fight, and I have to see some of the horrorible things people say in the lobby, I get back off. I'm probably too sensitive, but I just have no desire to mingle with some of the... Community. One bad apple, and all that.

 

[Dark_Rob]

LOl. Dude you're forgetting about our online warriors that shock the world. You know Josh99 and ArchMagus.

And where did they "shock the world"? Thats right, at a tournament.
This is turning into the same old argument with you guys misunderstanding the same old things. You keep bringing up online players and we keep telling you it has nothing to do with online players. Its the online ENVIRONMENT that makes online wins/losses meaningless. Because the game doesnt work right online, it doesnt play the same, you can not react right online. You can not punish things online that you should be able to. Why is this so hard to understand?
We are thrilled that there are great players that learned the game online and now compete offline, for if none ever did then online MK9 could be said to have been completely worthless. But at least it got us some good players.
But they go to tournaments to prove it now.

 

[PoliceBrutality]

Or maybe school started, people might not have the same free time that they used to have.

 

[CptXecution]

I'm an example of what Dark Rob is saying. I used to be an online player and now I can't stand it since my first offline experience. Online is good for meeting good players online making friends and taking you skills to tournaments. It can help you level up to a certain point by learning a character and his moves but not match ups to their full extent. I met a few friends online (one in my state ironically) and we decided to get together and go to a tournament and run the show. My first tournament was ECT and got BODIED by Chris G my first match (lucky for me the power went out and we reset the brackets). It wasn't until then I realized how DIFFERENT the offline scene was. Online is VERY limited but is still important to our scene, some people can't afford to make tournaments. If the netcode was fixed like AE then I think it wouldn't seem as dead. And Police Brutality makes a good point, maybe it's the fact that school is back in session? lol


Oh and catch_22 I love the sig bro...HUGE cowoys fan here as well as Dez.

 

[funkdoc]

Vulcan Hades: To be fair, Evo is unique in how many casual players it draws. It's the one tournament that has legitimate brand recognition, and having been there a lot I can say around half the people there nowadays never go to any other tournaments.

But even at other majors, typically half the players are average at best, so your point still stands.

 

[AK L0rdoftheFLY]

I was online last night and the most ppl I saw in any room was 18 fucking ppl! And it took like 4 mins to find a ranked match. Granted it was 3am, but still I've never seem it so low. Just kinda depressing.

I notice your on Xbox live. Xbox is the worst for MK and fighting games in general. I am moving to ps after my Xbox dies because Xbox is designed for shooters, not fighters. Ps will have three rooms a night at 80+ people where Xbox is lucky to get 80 in one room.

 

[simtmb]

The boards seem quite alive to me. As for MK in general, as chem said a few pages back, be grateful for what you have. I can't quite comment on the scene here and there since I'm from Australia, but noticeably, the casual online players are mostly gone, just like any other fighter. That itself is also not the best indication of the state of a community.

Personally I'd love to see a UMK9 or something similar as within Australia, the game being banned, and the online region lock, makes it near impossible to get any matches. Especially since the FTG community, even for casual fun, has pretty much ignored the game due to what the ban entails to the competitive scene. For me and many other Australians, this simply sucks, it's one of my favorite fighters this gen and the situation here is unfortunate.

 

[Sabin]

Offline is where it is at, and like pig said, all the $21,000 Street fighter cross over players have all died off, and now the best is left. I am happy with that.

dunno why youre happy... I am assuming you are referring to Justin Wong, and you should be sad more SF players are not playing, they bring the hype and the attention. Remember, most Capcom players are assuming this game is 'dead" in their eyes. IE, IF ANYTHING, YOU WOULD WANT THEM TO BE PLAYING MORE, NOT LESS.

as for online..well online players are complete fucking assholes anyway, not to mention KOTH is laggy and buggy and shit. not surprised. People still drop on me after i win, send me the most hateful messages in the world, and are complete sore losers. who would want to play in a laggy environment full of assholes that get hype over online wins and won't acknowledge their losses?
thankfully i have lag free games with Perfect Legend and a few of my other homies (solid players), so i really could care less. In the end ppl gotta do what they can to make it out to some events. I hope SB6 breaks 100 players that would be hella nice. Summer Jam had 64+ i think and that was with the hurricane

I notice your on Xbox live. Xbox is the worst for MK and fighting games in general. I am moving to ps after my Xbox dies because Xbox is designed for shooters, not fighters. Ps will have three rooms a night at 80+ people where Xbox is lucky to get 80 in one room.

xbox live has better netcode man, you should honestly have both if you can afford it. PS3 has more MK players obviously but worse connections overall

 

[AK BeerGuyEd]

I certainly see the online numbers dwindling down. It is sad but expected really. No more summer, and new games coming out. I am in the group that is somewhat happy about it since that really just means less noobs to fight online.

As far as the overall scene dying I think losing some momentum perhaps but very very far from dead.

I can say that at least in the Atlanta area the scene is as good as ever. We are having biweekly offline casuals, now with a stream to go with it. Lots of top level players which are leveling up everyone that wants to get better. We now have a tournament next Thursday at a gaming bar, which if it is successful and it will be, will turn into a monthly tournament. ATL Revival tournaments also happen once a month, and the hype from Impact Clash will help get more MK matches on stream.

I used to be a online warrior but I was inspired by sites like TYM, and MKU to get off the couch and get involved and I am doing my best to help the MK scene out, because I love MK and the people that play MK (no homo).

 

[Sabin]

Just saying, Poongko is a baaaad example because he was a KOF player prior to SFIV dropping in the arcades, where he started anyway. XD

you beat me to this i was about to put niggas on blast about this one lol online player rofl...he's an arcade player first. also Korea has 100mbit FTTH making online games smooth. once everyone has fiber we can stop having discussions about offline/online shit but i dont see that happening anytime soon

 

[Sabin]

In SSF4 the experience gap between online and offline is very thin because that game has a virtually lagless netcode. So it's actually easier to jump from online to offline. But in MK9, online is too different from offline and that's very unfortunate.

No, unless you have fiber optic or a beast connection it is not close to "lagless" at all. There is a reason why most American players complain about the quality of SF4 netcode and Asia (which has FTTH) dosent